This is is the second instalment of The Breach Election Files, our pop-up election newsletter.
Welcome to another edition of The Breach Election Files—your go-to source for analysis that cuts through the election noise.
This week, housing took centre stage on the campaign trail. But while establishment media headlines focus on big-dollar promises, our team is here to unpack whether these policies target the real culprits behind the crisis.
Let’s dig in.
The Liberals pitch a big plan
Mark Carney and the Liberals have unveiled what they call “Canada’s most ambitious housing plan since WWII.” The promise: billions in funding to double home construction and a new federal agency to oversee the process.
The plan is short on details. It doesn’t commit to a direct government role in building housing. Instead, Carney promises to “unleash the power of public/private co-operation at a scale not seen in generations.” If history is any guide, we can expect higher costs, inflated promises, and little transparency.
And will these new homes be built for social housing or privately owned? The Liberals aren’t saying.
🔎 The Breach take:
Canada was once a world leader in helping build housing for working people—but not since the 1980s. Today, we have the lowest proportion of non-market housing in the Western world.
Post-2008 low interest rates helped investors drive up prices and sideline affordable housing stock. Reversing this requires the Liberals and Conservatives to break their lucrative ties to wealthy real estate donors.
- ➡️ Dig deeper: Inside the Liberals’ cozy ties with real estate CEOs
Our investigation revealed how former Housing Minister Sean Fraser wined and dined with B.C.’s top developers in an intimate fundraiser.
The dream of home ownership
Both the Liberals and the Conservatives are proposing to cut the GST on new homes. Carney’s pitch targets first-time buyers of homes under $1 million—which will only benefit high-income earners. Poilievre’s extends up to $1.3 million and isn’t restricted to first-time buyers, opening the door for investors or landlords to snap up additional properties.
Jagmeet Singh and the NDP, meanwhile, have proposed offering under-market mortgages to struggling first-time buyers to “keep the dream of home ownership alive.”
🔎 The Breach take:
Decades of failed policies have prioritized homeowners over renters, driving up prices and deepening inequality.
Instead of axing ‘red tape’ and taxes, we need to look at how the retreat of public pensions, the financialization of housing, and decades of austerity have turned housing into a source of wealth and investment.
Who’s looking out for renters?
So far, the two leading parties have been silent on policies that would rein in corporate landlords and real estate speculators.
The NDP, on the other hand, have pledged to block corporate landlords from buying up rental properties and driving up rents—specifically calling out Brookfield, the giant asset management firm where Carney served as board chair. They propose cutting federal incentives for big investors and boosting federal funding for community housing.
🔎 The Breach Take:
It’s time for the government to use its federal power to protect renters—just as it did in WWII when it froze rents to curb inflation.
- ➡️ Dig deeper: How corporate landlords use AI to hike rents
The Competition Bureau is investigating landlords over AI-based rental price-fixing. Our reporting on the predatory practice sparked the investigation.
In a recent podcast episode, housing activists and tenant organizers discussed why housing must be recognized as a social need rather than a commodity.
While renters’ struggles are often sidelined, the media is flooded with landlord sob stories. That slanted coverage disguises the exploitation of the housing market and undermines the fight for tenants rights.
Across Canada, tenants are mobilizing to fight evictions, stop rent hikes, and take on abusive landlords. They’re leading the charge for housing justice.
That’s it for this week’s Election Files. We’ll be back next week with another deep dive.
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